Safeways Two Hour Turkey Recipes

2 HOUR TURKEY

Steps:

• Cut off skin at the neck.
• Cut off wing and second joint.
• Remove giblets.
• (It's probably a good idea to cook the wings and giblets to make stock since most of the juice will stay in your turkey rather than making a lot of pan drippings).
• Clean turkey and pat dry.
• Salt and pepper inside and out.
• Coat all over with oil, rubbing in a little to make sure you have a good coating.
• Sprinkle generously with paprika.
• Place turkey on its side in a large roaster.
• Roast in a 400 degree oven for 2-3 hours.
• 3/4 of the way through the cooking time, turn turkey to the other side.
• It is very important that you DO NOT PIERCE THE SKIN.
• Just a hint: To ensure you don't pierce the skin and let out all the juice you might want to use a couple old (clean) oven mitts and just pick up the bird to flip it.

TWO-HOUR TURKEY AND GRAVY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Put the onion, garlic, and rosemary, if using, into the empty turkey cavity. Place the turkey in a large roasting pan, breast side up, and brush with the butter or oil. Place in the oven, uncovered, and roast, unattended, for 1 hour. Carefully remove the turkey from the oven (close the door of the oven), watching out for steam. Brush the turkey with butter or its juices. Return to the oven quickly and reduce the heat to 400°F.Roast another 30 minutes, checking the pan juices occasionally. Cover with foil if the breast is too brown. Cook another 30 minutes, adding stock if the pan juices evaporate.
• The turkey is done when a meat thermometer inserted in its thigh registers 170°F and the juices run clear. Let rest 10 minutes (the temperature should rise 10 degrees in 10 minutes). Remove the turkey to a board or platter for carving. Carve. Discard the onions and garlic from inside the turkey. The turkey can be made a day ahead and refrigerated before reheating, carved, or it can be carved 10 minutes after resting.
• If you decide to roast and carve the turkey ahead of time or if you want to freeze a portion of the turkey for another occasion, place the carved turkey in a shallow baking dish, cover it with broth, then wrap with foil or place the dish in a plastic bag; refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 1 month. When you are ready to serve, defrost, if necessary, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 1 month. When you are ready to serve, defrost, if necessary, in the refrigerator, then bake in a 350°F. oven for 30 to 45 or until heated completely through (or heat in the microwave).
• While the turkey is resting, place the pan over medium-high heat. The skin, fat, and juices should be a beautiful dark bronze, not black. Remove all but 1/2 cup of the fat. Keep as much of the juices as possible. Whisk the flour into the fat and cook, stirring, until the flour turns light brown. Whisk in the rest of the broth, and boil until thick and flavorful, stirring occasionally. Strain if lumpy or any part is burned. Add water or canned broth or stock if a thinner gravy is desired. Add as much cream as desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2-HOUR TURKEY, REALLY

Steps:

• Since this employs the use of a VERY hot oven, make sure your oven is CLEAN before you start to reduce the risk of smoking your family out of the house. Place oven rack on lowest position in oven. Preheat oven to 475*F.
• Remove all giblets, neck, pop-up thermometer (if there is one) and any trussing. Rinse turkey THOROUGHLY, inside and out with cool water, letting all water drain out of neck and body cavities. Pat dry, inside and out, with paper toweling.
• Place on V or U-shaped wire rack in roasting pan, so that turkey doesn't rest on bottom of pan. First time I made this I didn't have a rack, so I just slapped it in my grandmother's old-fashioned blue-enamel roaster pan and it turned out FINE.
• Rub entire outside of dried-off turkey with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. I use Kosher salt because it has large, coarse grains.
• Pull wing tips AWAY from the body, twist them and tuck them, backwards, under the bird -- up by its neck.
• Using aluminum foil, form caps over the end of each drumstick. If any parts of the turkey extend beyond pan rim, make a foil "collar" underneath to make sure drippings flow back into pan. Do NOT tie legs together, do NOT add stuffing, do NOT close body cavity. THAT's a NO; NO; NO;. Half-way through cooking time, turn roaster/turkey around to ensure even cooking.
• If any part of the turkey becomes too brown during cooking, cover it loosely with foil tent.
• Cooking timing chart below: (times are approximate) 10-13 lbs. = 50 minutes to 1 1/4 hours 13-16 lbs. = 1 1/4 hrs to 1 hour 50 minutes. 16-19 lbs. = 1 1/4 hrs to 2 hours 19-22 lbs. = 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hours 22-24 lbs. = 1 1/2 hrs to 2 1/2 hours 25+ lbs. = Are you sure it's not an ostrich you're roasting? If not, call Guinness Book of Records. It's done when internal temp (in breast) is 160 degrees. When done, remove from oven. Cover completely with foil, and let rest 30-45 minutes before carving. The internal temp will continue to rise to the recommended 165*F. After resting, transfer to platter for carving. NOTE* There will likely be a LOT of juices in the cavity, drain them out before transferring the bird to a platter. Save the juices to make gravy or moisten dressing!